Messier 81

M81 or Bode's galaxy is a large bright spiral galaxy located 11.8 million light-years from Earth in the constellation of Ursa Major. With an apparent magnitude of +6.9 it's easily visible with binoculars. The galaxy is a striking example of a grand design spiral; a galaxy that exhibits prominent near perfect and well defined spiral arms. Bode’s Galaxy is home to over 250 billion stars. It is the most remote blueshifted (moving toward us) large galaxy known.

The active galactic nucleus of M81 contains a supermassive black hole with a mass of 70 million solar masses, or 15 times the mass of the black hole at the centre of the Milky Way.

This image totals 8 hours of exposure ending the night of June 2, 2016.